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Tag Archives: Domaine du Mortier

In addition to tonight’s tasting, Deirdre Heekin of La Garagista will visit us this Tuesday, August 1st, from 5-6:30pm for a wine tasting and book signing. We hope you can join us to taste these acclaimed, tiny-production Vermont wines.

H&M Hofer Gruner Veltliner 2016, Wienviertel, Austria

Hofer is a 20-hectare, family-operated, certified organic estate, with top sites in Freiberg and Kirchlissen. In addition to vines, they grow organic grains (rye, barley, and alfalfa) for consumption and as cover crops. Wienvertiel is Austria’s largest growing region and is known for commodity wines; the high quality wines of Hofer stand out & raise the bar. All Hofer wines are produced using grapes that are destemmed, macerated for a short time, and fermented in stainless steel to preserve freshness and acidity. This wine is a liter of refreshing deliciousness. It’s herbal, dry, white-peppery (common in Gruner) with citrus-like acidity and a touch of stony minerality. Too easy to toss back. Have it with seafood, scrambled eggs, sushi, salads…it’s got most stuff covered, except for maybe super-spicy. A little spicy is ok!

Pierre Olivier Bonhomme “Le Telquel”, Vin de France (Touraine)

LE TELQUEL translates to ‘as it is’, but sounds like the french word for dachshund, hence the wiener dog on the label. Originally made by natural-wine trailblazer Thierry Puzelat (of Clos du Tue-Boeuf) and Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme, Pierre-O has been solely making the wine since 2011, and since 2014, only his name has graced the label. Read more about all that here.

Every release is slightly different, but we’re pretty sure this is a blend of mostly Gamay, with some Grolleau and maybe some Pineau D’Aunis from vines planted on flint. The wine is aged in wooden tanks and bottled in the spring. It’s light & spicy, with tangy fruit and lots of acidity. Put a slight chill on it for the complete vin de soif experience. Au naturale, unfiltered, etc…

La P’Tite Vadrouille 2016

This is a side project for Domaine du Mortier, a 9 hectare, certified biodynamic property located in Saint Nicolas de Bourgeuil. Brothers Fabien and Cyril Boisard were quite young when they started Domaine du Mortier nearly ten years ago. And while they don’t hail from a long line of winemakers, they do employ the most traditional method of propagating vines: Selection Massale, a labor intensive and time consuming practice of selecting the best vines in a vineyard and propagating through cuttings. Their wines are made and bottled with little to no SO2.

Heavy frost in 2016 left the brothers needing grapes, so they sourced from friends growing organically in Bordeaux. La P’Tite Vadrouille is 55% Merlot and 45% Cabernet Franc from vines planted along the Dordogne. They picked the grapes themselves and then brought them back to Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil in a refrigerated truck, where the grapes then underwent a 12 day maceration with semi-carbonic fermentation, producing a lively wine with bright fruit aromas. Unfortunately this vineyard also froze in 2017, so they’ll have to source again for next year. The life of winemakers is often a tough one.

Domaine Elodie Balme Cotes du Rhone Rouge 2015

Elodie Balme began her foray into wine making at just 19 years old, when she quit her wine sales job to study viticulture and oenology. As part of her coursework, she was placed with Marcel Richaud, a pioneer of biodynamics in the southern Rhone. The two became friends, and Elodie was inspired to go deeper into organic and biodynamic winemaking. With Marcel her mentor, Elodie founded her domaine at 23 years old.

2006 was her first vintage, which she produced from four hectares belonging to her father Bernard, who had been a viticulturist his whole life. Until Elodie joined him in farming and production, he had worked his property conventionally. Elodie has eliminated pesticides and herbicides entirely in most of the 14 hectares she farms (there are a couple stubborn parcels that still get one treatment per year) and Bernard has stopped using systemic treatments on all 28 hectares. They are getting closer to 100% organic every year. The grapes from the other 14 hectares that Elodie doesn’t farm are sold to local co-ops.

Fermentation is spontaneous with native yeast. and the wines are vinified and aged in concrete, with no added sulfur during production. The wines do get a tiny dose at bottling.

Folk Machine is part of Kenny Likitprakong’s Hobo Wine Company, which he started in 2002, at the age of 26. He grew up in Healdsburg, spending much time at Domaine St. George, the winery owned by his great-uncle Supasit Mahaguna. From the start, Likitprakong set out to make lower sugar, lower alcohol, higher acid, food friendly wines.

White Light is a blend of 50% Tocai Friulano from Mendocino, 30% Riesling from Santa Lucia Highlands, and 20% Verdelho from Suisan Valley. Everything was picked early and fermented in stainless steel without commercial yeast. The final wine is just 11.9% alcohol; it’s light on its feet, a touch salty, and pleasantly aromatic. Pair it with seafood, salads, light summery meals, and Wilco on the stereo.

Les Tètes, “Tete Rosé” 2015, Touraine, France

Les Tètes is a certified organic producer in Touraine, owned and operated by a small group of friends. They describe their wines like this: Les Tètes is about friendship, and wines you drink with friends. We hand-pick the best grapes and keep the vinification completely natural, every step of the way. Fermentation is with wild yeasts only, which allows the purest expression of each varietal. And our wines contain minimal sulfites, for the best flavor and no headaches!

No headaches for The Heads! Rosé Head is 60% Grolleau and 40% Gamay, from vines that average 25 years, grown on clay and limestone. This is an enticing little wine. Low alcohol, sweet fruit, some funky grolleau/gamay antics. Yum.

Domaine du Mortier “Les Pins” 2014, Bourgueil

Domaine du Mortier is a 9 hectare, certified biodynamic property located in Saint Nicolas de Bourgeuil, owned and operated by brothers Fabien and Cyril Boisard. Here the brothers employ the most traditional method of propagating vines: Selection Massale, a labor intensive and time consuming practice of selecting the best vines in a vineyard and propagating through cuttings. They also promote eco-diversity in their vineyards, by planting diverse crops amongst the vines. With this level of discipline and commitment, they always produce top notch wines.

Les Pins is 100$ Cabernet Franc from one parcel of 60 year old vines, grown on clay and chalk. The grapes are hand harvested, and then the whole bunches go into 50 hectoliter oak vats for a traditional fermentation at low temperature (usually lasts about 20 days). They use the lees from the previous vintage to start the fermentation. The bottom of the tank is lined with boxes so that the fresh grapes are not in contact with any of the juice at the bottom. The wine then stays in tank until it’s bottled with only 15mg per liter of sulfur. Les Pins, like all wines here, is bottled unfiltered and unfined.

Bodegas Lecea “Corazon de Lago” Rioja, 2014

Bodegas Lecea is a multi-generational producer in Rioja, Spain. They have 25 hectares of vines that average 25 years old, but the vines for their Crianza and Reserva wines are at least 50 years old.

Corazon de Lago is hand harvested and then made via carbonic maceration, which is unusual in Rioja, but results in a wine that blends bright, clean and fruity characteristics with darker, earthier and spicier tones.

Marc Ollivier is one of the best producers of Muscadet that we’ve ever encountered. His Muscadet has lees contact until the time of bottling, which is the traditional way to make Muscadet, but has become the exception. Ollivier hand harvests, uses natural yeasts & bottles with a very light filtration. The vineyards are 40+ years old & all from original stock; there isn’t a single clonal selection in the vineyards.

It’s hard to ever say no to this little piggy. This rosé is made from a blend of Cinsault & Syrah, from vines of about 60 years old. The grapes are harvested at maximum ripeness and immediately de-stemmed, then gently crushed and fermented with natural yeast. The skins are removed from the vats 36 hours after pressing, lending this rosé its beautifully intense pink color. This wine is typically light and spicy, with bright red fruit, like cherries and a strawberries, and a clean and zesty finish.

2014 Domaine Rimbert “Cousin Oscar” Vin de France (St. Chinian)

He’s back! Made from Jean-Marie Rimbert’s organically farmed young vine Cinsault, this wine is synonymous with summer around the shop. Oscar likes a light chill, to maintain his suave sense of cool.

2014 Domaine du Mortier “Brain de Folie” St Nicolas de Bourgeuil

Domaine du Mortier is a 9 hectare vineyard located in the Saint Nicolas de Bourgeuil AOC, which lies between Angers and Tours. Brothers Fabien and Cyril Boisard were quite young when they started Domaine du Mortier nearly ten years ago. They don’t come from a family with a long wine making history, but you would never know that when tasting their pure, silky and elegant wines. All are bottles unfiltered & unfined. The vines are cultivated via Selection Massale, a labor intensive and time consuming practice of selecting the best vines in a vineyard and propagating through cuttings.

Brain de Folie is apparently slang for hangover, but this is a light Loire Valley Cab Franc, so how bad can it be? Two weeks of carbonic maceration lend this wine its refreshing, food friendly, totally quaffable character. Porch-pounder!

Domaine Grosbot-Barbara is 6.5 hectares in the center of France, in Alliers, a region known for the prized oak trees used in barrel production. The history of the vineyards in this area date back to before the Romans, when the Phoenicians settled here and planted vines. The heyday of the region was in the 13th and 14th centuries when the wines of St. Pourcain were highly esteemed and favored by Popes, royalty and aristocracy alike. The Vin d’Alon is a blend of 80% Chardonnay and 20% Tressallier. Tressallier is the distinguishing local grape variety in Saint Pourçain, at one time widely planted, rivaling the Chardonnay grape. The resulting blend is a wine with an elegant rich mouthfeel of Chardonnay heightened by the fresh lime and honey aromatics of Tressallier. Fermentation is carried out in temperature controlled stainless steel vats where the wine remains on its lees until bottling in the spring. This domaine practices “Lutte Raisonnée” farming, which in this case, means organic without certification; they will only use chemicals under great duress, and then only the minimal amount would be used.

Les Vignerons D’ Estézargues is a unique co-operative cellar in the small town of Estézargues. Starting in 1995, the ten different growers in this co-op began to vinify their wine separately and make single cuvées from their best plots. Soon they began to practice natural winemaking, becoming one of the first (and perhaps only) co-ops in the world to do so. Les Vignerons D’ Estézargues uses no external yeast, no filtering, no fining and no enzymes in the winemaking process.

Tasting & pairing notes from the importer: Ruby red in the glass with a pretty amethyst rim. The nose is redolent with smoky notes of cassis, blackberries, dried orange peel and sweet spice. The palate is a plush and delectable expression of red and black fruits backed by brambly tannins. The wine finishes with a supple dash of orange zest and black pepper. Pair with grilled lamb, sausages, steak, chicken and pork in hearty red sauces.

Domaine du Mortier is a 9 hectare vineyard located in the Saint Nicolas de Bourgeuil AOC, which lies between Angers and Tours. Brothers Fabien and Cyril Boisard were quite young when they started Domaine du Mortier nearly ten years ago. They don’t come from a family with a long wine making history, but you would never know that when tasting their pure, silky and elegant wines. All are bottles unfiltered & unfined. The vines are cultivated via Selection Massale, a labor intensive and time consuming practice of selecting the best vines in a vineyard and propagating through cuttings.

Ferraton Pere et Fils Cote Rotie L’Eglantine 2007, Cote-Rotie AOC

Ferraton Père et Fils was founded in 1946 in Tain l’Hermitage. In 1998, 4th generation Samuel Ferraton formed a partnership with Michel Chapoutier. This new partnership introduced biodynamic vine-growing practices for the single vineyards but kept winemaking control in the Ferraton family. L’Eglantine is a blend from Cote Rotie’s two slopes – Cote Blonde (limestone dominated) and Cote Brune (schist dominated) This is elegant Syrah with complex notes of earth, black olives, truffles and a long, mineral-driven finish.